Kathmandu , July 2: Kathmandu’s diplomatic corps have decided to follow the example set by the Maoists and boycott King Gyanendra’s 60th birthday bash to be held on Sunday.
Ambassadors of several countries, including India, have expressed their inability to attend the monarch’s birthday party being held on the Narayanhitti Palace grounds.
Indian ambassador Shiv Shankar Mukherjee was the first diplomat to express his regrets.
Sources in the Indian mission told The Telegraph that Mukherjee’s office informed the palace that he would not be in Kathmandu on Sunday.
“In fact, the ambassador’s office contacted the palace as soon as the invitation card landed,” the sources said.
Other diplomats, including American envoy James Moriarty, seem to have followed the Mukherjee route by informing the palace that they would be out of station on the day of the party.
Among those who have expressed their inability to attend are the UK’s Andrew Hall, France’s Michael Jolivet, Germany’s Franz Erwin Ring, Norway’s Tore Toreng, Sri Lanka’s Sumit Nakandala and Australia’s Graeme Lade.
Unconfirmed reports said the Japanese envoy reportedly accepted the invitation on the ground that he comes from a country which has a monarch. It is not known if Sohail Amin of Pakistan and Imtiaz Ahmed of Bangladesh accepted the invitation.
It is believed that the envoys took the decision to stay away after the Nepalese foreign ministry told them that the monarch is no more the head of the state.
“Since there are no more protocol compulsions, we have decided to decline the invitation,” an envoy said on condition of anonymity.
The Maoists who are part of the ruling coalition have already announced that they would not attend the celebration, which is being seen as an attempt by Gyanendra to reaffirm his supremacy as the monarch.
During the celebration, Gyanendra will felicitate 60 former employees of the palace who have been forced to retire after the multiparty government stripped the powers of the king and pruned the palace staff to a bare minimum.
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